Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CRNX) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNX) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $84.00 and last traded at $83.9130, with a volume of 2457159 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $83.73.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRNX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. JonesTrading lowered Crinetics Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Crinetics Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.00.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.35 and a beta of 0.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $51.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.55.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CRNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($1.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.22) by ($0.01). Crinetics Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 43.96% and a negative net margin of 2,747.18%.The business had revenue of $10.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.04) earnings per share. Crinetics Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 2873.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -4.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crinetics Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Stephanie Okey sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.67, for a total value of $246,123.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $228,288. This represents a 51.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Coelho Rogerio Vivaldi sold 3,000 shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $120,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $769,000. This trade represents a 13.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 44.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,381,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,110,000 after purchasing an additional 2,574,683 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 6,933,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163,000 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 1.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,520,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,227,000 after acquiring an additional 79,560 shares during the period. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 8.8% during the third quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 2,550,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,240,000 after acquiring an additional 207,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Siren L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 26.3% during the first quarter. Siren L.L.C. now owns 1,903,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,140,000 after purchasing an additional 396,000 shares during the period. 98.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Crinetics Pharmaceuticals

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases. The company’s proprietary platform leverages insights into hormone receptor signaling to design small-molecule candidates that address conditions driven by dysregulated hormone activity. Crinetics’ research efforts center on targeting somatostatin, vasopressin and other GPCR-mediated pathways with orally bioavailable molecules intended to improve patient convenience and adherence.

The company’s lead product candidate, paltusotine (formerly CRN04777), is a selective, non-peptide somatostatin receptor type 2 agonist being evaluated for the treatment of acromegaly and carcinoid syndrome diarrhea.